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iSee, iTouch, iWant...that in plain Singlish ala Apple sums what will happen when you get up close to the newest baby in the iPod family.
In 24 hours the iPod touch will be in the hot hands of those who placed orders on the Apple online store,while authorised Apple retailers like iShop by Club 21, will be stacking its shelves ready for weekend buys. If you're asking, is it worth it (look towards spending close to S$500),check out our close encounter of the loveliest kind...yes, a real,authorised and working iPod touch which some were sceptical that it had even touched Singapore shores weeks before the lauch.
Before launching into the nuts and bolts, it must be confessed that I joined the status of iPod-owner only at the start of this year and for the longest time, the word "Apple" only conjured in my mind, a fruit to crunch on, then later, Steve Jobs and his slew of creations, in that order. So having worn for some time the badge of outcast for not being an Apple fan, I felt in good stead to have a look and feel of the newest incarnation of the iPod, when it was offered.
After a week with the iPod touch, it is, as suspected from day 1, destined to be the next big thing.
While the iPod has been the icon of cool, the iPod touch is well...uber cool and not only that, it is smart, light-weight, friendly, gorgeous and a good reason to ditch your less-than-reliable friends as it's really good company.
It is easy to carry, but unfortunately, not easy on the pocket. Coming in at S$498 for 8GB and S$698 for 16GB, you must really love yourself or that lucky person who's getting it as a gift. Since Apple offers engraving services for their iPods bought online, including the iPod touch, at least you'll be sure that your gift will be very hard to give away. And really, no sane person would pass on the chance to have an iPod touch.
In the design department, the iPod touch is pure brave genius.
It breaks away totally from the standard iPod with click dial which has come to symbolise MP3s and digital music. There is only one button and that is the on/off button at the top of the device. The rest is a seamless,slim body that's dominated by a 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen.
It's clear that the iPod touch came off the drawing board of the iPhone. And those who dismissed the snaking queues at the launch of the iPhone as hype, probably got it all wrong.
With the calling features left out, you get a good range of useful programs that launch with just a light touch of your finger. Forget the stylus, or any other device you might want to use as a pointer because it just won't work in response to anything but the touch of your skin. And truthfully, you'll want to touch the iPod touch, all the time.
What was good is that the device is truly intuitive. You don't need a manual or a PhD to work out how to use it.
There is one central touch sensitive button which will close and open up programs represented by icons. Touch the Safari icon and you're onto the Internet with the built-in WiFi, the first time an iPod has been built with one.
If you want to take a closer look at an online article, just slide your fingers in an 'open-up' movement. If you're missing some of the information on the left or right of the screen, just slide your finger across to drag that portion you want to look at,to sit right in front of you. It's that easy.
The iPod touch also offers quick-launch icons to bring users to YouTube and the iTunes store, but of course that shortcut is not too useful in Asia since users can't buy anything. Until Apple offers something to folks in Asia, the iTunes store will be good only for window shopping on the iPod touch.
Better then to make use of your time updating your contacts and calendar which you can do by synching with your PC (both Mac and Windows).
You can also call up a virtual keyboard, with keys that resemble the striking head of the type-writer (meaning those too young to know a type writer are probably not the target audience of the iPod touch ?). The keyboard needs some getting used to, since as large as they may be, even tiny fingers will miss the right keys - just like in the old days of the typewriter - or was that a deliberate Apple move in keeping with the nostalgia of the type writer?
The other downside is that you can't use the keyboard to add new appointments to your calendar on the iPod touch.
But what is the iPod, of any shape and sort, if it weren't used for music, photos and videos ? And it is here that the iPod touch again shows itself off beautifully.
Click on the thumbnail of your photo gallery to call up a photo which you can slide through and zoom in to see all the fine details. Turn the iPod touch sideways to view it in landscape.
The iTunes application comes with Apple's latest Cover Flow so you can check the art that goes with the music, and again, the viewing aspect is up to you.
Touch the screen and the virtual buttons to control the music appears. The same goes for watching videos, except you can only watch clips in landscape as the iPod touch won't flip to re-frame in this instance. The clarity though is really great and the screen size on landscape is just right for watching a video without straining the eyes too much.
The iPod touch in 16GB means 20 hours of video, 20,000 photos and 3500 songs. And you'll be able to enjoy one movie and four of the latest episodes of Supernatural (or five hours of video) before your full battery or you, run out of steam in that video-viewing marathon.
The other facts and figures of the iPod touch; it stands 110 mm, is just 1.8 mm wide (your name card holder is probably thicker than that) and weighs 120 grams (way, way lighter than a regular iPod or standard mobile phone). But the most important fact you really need is, the iPod touch is gorgeous and works gorgeously.
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